Radical Research Podcast

After recording two mind-bending and defiant albums -- pieced together, ever so precariously, with the bacterial molecules of metal, ska, contemporary music, free jazz, musique concrete, tango, imaginary soundtracks, and the music of the Middle East -- Mr. Bungle returned to the table in 1999 with their fin de siecle masterpiece, California. Breaking from the hysterical invention of the previous albums, California works within a more stable reservoir of sounds, resulting in a luxurious set of songs that presses into service the band’s highly-evolved compositional prowess and nimble musicianship. Over the course of 44 minutes, Mr. Bungle works through the swing-metal of “None of them Knew They Were Robots,” the torch-song noir of “Pink Cigarette,” and the cyborg future-funk of “Golem II: The Bionic Vapor Boy” and addresses such zesty topics as The Hidden God, ritual castration, and the nausea that underpins West Coast “fun in the sun.” One of the last grand analog production feats, we here at Radical Research